Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata Dies At 55; Analysts Say This Is A Big Lost For Nintendo

A few months after considering a venture on the smartphone gaming policy, Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo died on Saturday at 55 due to a bile duct tumor. Reports say this is such a big lost for Nintendo.

Nintendo Co.Ltd. announced in a statement that Iwata died on Saturday, July 11, after a long illness. Iwata disclosed to shareholders in June last year that he underwent an operation to take off a tumor in his bile duct. Iwata then shared he felt no symptoms and the lump was discovered early.

Satoru started working in Nintendo Co., Ltd. in 2000 as the head of the Corporate Planning Division accountable for Nintendo's global corporate planning. He became the company's president after two years. Subsequently, he occupied the role of the CEO of Nintendo America in 2013.

Iwata's familiarity in video gaming began after graduating when he joined HAL Laboratory. Thereafter, he started coordinating the software production and development of Nintendo Kirby series in 1983. He then became the programmer of Kirby's Dream Land and an executive producer of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Iwata dominates Nintendo throughout the creation of Nintendo DS (dual screen) handheld game console in 2004 and the Wii home video game console in 2006. From the time it took off, the DS has been in demand selling over 200 million units and the Wii has dispatched more than 101 million making it the most popular home console.

The CEO died just when Nintendo is anticipating a double increase of its annual profit this year upon partnering with an online game creator DeNa to penetrate smartphone gaming, according to Reuters.

Hanjoon Kim, a Deutsche Bank analyst even said that Iwata's passing was a huge lost for Nintendo on the whole as Iwata used to supervise the strategic planning in smartphone online gaming.

Iwata's death had surprised the people behind the video game business. As of this writing, it is still unclear who will replace him as Nintendo's CEO.